First Week in the Books

Seems like an eternity since I have written in my blog.  It is not because I have lost interest in the endeavor but, that I have been physically exhausted.

I finished my first full week of landscaping today which is a big success for me.  It was encouraging to be back at something I am familiar with.  It will be nice to earn a pay check every week again too.

The last time I wrote in my blog,  I mentioned that I was going to focus on breaking the day in to small blocks of time.  This seems to be working wonders for me so far.  I was not too overwhelmed mentally for a long duration of time.  I had one "bi-polar" moment where I had to walk a way for a couple of minutes to collect myself because I was becoming a bit emotional.  I take comments that are meant to be constructive criticism far too personally and it throws me off at times.  This was one of those moments but, it did not last long which is a good sign.

I am working with Smitty again this year.  He is a great guy and a lot of fun to work with.  We work extremely well together and get in a good rhythm.  I am so glad he is back as I would feel lost without him there.  It is not that I do not know what I am doing,  it just gives me more confidence knowing that someone is there to answer any questions I may have.  It looks like we may end up having a new addition to the crew this year so it may take a while to create the same cohesion that Smitty and I have.

I did a lot of digging this week.  We had to take a lot of plants at a property and it really works your back muscles.  I have to get some A535 to rub in at night to help as I have always dealt with back pain at various stages in my life.   I used the tractor to load some gravel in to a bed which was fun.  It was damn scary at first as there was some tricky slopes to deal with but, felt good to finish the job right.

My favorite part of the week was doing some spring pruning.  Pruning plants is something I pride myself on and is a skill that I seem to have a knack for.  We have an Echo at work and I love that machine.  I am definitely going to get one down the road when our budget allows it.  There is something about pruning plants that blocks everything else out.  My thoughts are gone,  there is no anxiety or stress and none of the blues.  Just me and the plant.  Guess you could relate it to a pitcher in baseball who gets in a zone and can shut the crowd noise out.  When I am done shaping a plant,  it gives me a sense of joy.  Now if I could just figure out how to get in to that pruning zone in other aspects of my life,  life would become simple.

We are taking it easy this weekend.  Jodi has her skating carnival tomorrow and then she is done for the year.  Beach volleyball starts in a month which we are looking forward too.  Guess we should try to squeeze in a round of golf sometime this summer too.  Still cannot believe it snowed today after the amazing weather we had a few weeks a go.

A smile can go a long way to making someones day.

Take care,  Shawn.